Jalen Hurd explains his decision to leave the Tennessee Volunteers football program

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:15 p.m. ET

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Rob Perez

Jalen Hurd shocked the college football universe last week when Tennessee head coach Butch Jones announced that the star running back had requested to transfer to another school.

During the press conference, Jones' explanation was as follows:

“I met with Jalen Hurd this morning and we had a conversation and I have a great relationship with Jalen. He has informed me he intends to transfer and I support him on that ... I am very, very thankful for everything he has done for our football program.

I think it’s the combination of a long football season, (he's) been contemplating that. I don’t want to speak for Jalen,” Jones said. “There is a lot of things that go into that decision and I guess the only thing I will say is that I value our relationship and have a lot of respect for that young man and wish him nothing but the best.”

And when asked if he thought Hurd's departure would improve team morale, Jones said:

"I do."

Fast-forward to Sunday evening, and it was Hurd's turn to tell his side of the story. The Volunteer running back took to Twitter to deliver his explanation, expressing gratitude for the Tennessee football program and citing multiple reasons for his decision:

The key reason Hurd gives is that he says he came to Tennessee knowing the offense was a bad fit for him, but that he had hoped it would be tweaked to suit his abilities and that it hadn't happened often enough. He also cited some previously undisclosed injuries from this season.

Well then. Despite the lengthy explanation, Hurd did not elaborate on anything that went down and/or was said exclusively between he and Coach Jones -- thus, we are left to speculate if these are truly the only reasons why Hurd has played his last game on Rocky Top.

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